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First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Along Comes a Lifestyle Brand

Posted on 02/28/2011

Your relationship with a company’s brand is like dating. You may try out a few different brand names at first, then over time you become more loyal. Eventually you find out that you become hitched to a particular brand. In essence, you’ve fallen in love. A lifestyle brand becomes a part of you.

When you see a swoosh you instantly know it’s Nike. But lifestyle brands are beyond mere brand recognition. Lifestyle brands, like Nike, have a way of connecting to a person and making the brand a part of a person’s life. Achieving lifestyle brand status requires time, but the effort can pay off in a big way. Through the following examples, you too can become a lifestyle brand that will make your company something to love.

Polo Ralph Lauren Corp.
A lifestyle brand gives people a chance to be who they want to be. The Ralph Lauren brand allows people to associate themselves with a higher class. When you walk into a Ralph Lauren retail store, you walk into the lifestyle of Ralph Lauren himself. That’s something very few can relate to, but many aspire to be. Take a look at your brand and see what can make people aspire to be more.

Apple
A lifestyle brand becomes ubiquitous in a person’s life. Apple has some of the most loyal customers. A customer starts with the iPod or the iPhone and suddenly they need the iPad and a MacBook. Soon they’re searching Google for someone to leak the next big release from Apple. They tend to seek out others using Apple’s devices just to talk about Apple. This type of loyalty creates early adopter mentality and typically higher financial returns because they’re willing to pay a premium. Take a look at your products and services and think about ways to make them irresistible.

Looking to these enormous lifestyle brands may have you thinking that there’s no way to achieve that status. Remember these brands started small. Nike sold shoes from a trunk of a car. Apple sold computers from a garage. If your goal is to remain local, take a look around your community. There are local lifestyle brands around you. All you have to do is have a vision, share it with your employees and share with the community through advertising. Deliver on the promise of your vision and soon you’ll have suitors lined up at your door.